Technology that has been designed for sports and other activities involving motor skills is generally dedicated to improving strength, swing, motion, balance, speed, and agility. Accordingly, for golf and other sports, swinging motion trajectory is emphasized. For the most part the focus has been on developing aids for the individual athlete to improve a particular physical skill. Relatedly, technology for hazardous or potentially jeopardizing work, such as airplane piloting, is generally directed to practice in a simulated environment. In both areas mentioned above (motor skills and dangerous or jeopardizing work) the emphasis is on the individual taking action, i.e., making movements that imitate real circumstances. The prior art related to sports and physical actions is generally aided by technology directed to biomechanics and locomotion, i.e., to executing motor skills.
There is little technology that is used for instruction or simulation in playing sports such as ice hockey. Commonplace instructional aides include stopwatches, plastic orange cones (used for skating drills), parachutes (pulled to increase leg strength), 2xe2x80x3xc3x974xe2x80x3 boards (used for jumping in agility, speed, and balance drills), and surgical tubing harnesses (to increase strength and force the skater to skate while bent forward at the waist). None of the devices noted above provide the student with instructive and cognitive information concerning principles, tactics, maneuvers, skills and strategies used in physical activities such as playing ice hockey. In addition, these devices do not enable the player to receive quantitative feed-back concerning his/her progress in learning and mastering the cognitive aspects of the sport.
The present invention provides a method and an apparatus for interactive, tutorial, self and assisted instruction and simulated preparation, training and competitive play and entertainment directed toward improving comprehension, exercising cognitive functions and providing amusement. The method and apparatus provide for user interaction with images on the screen of a computer monitor, or other viewing device, containing multimedia, interactive, reconfigurable, audio-visual, tacticle systems.
The present invention provides a user with the opportunity to engage in simulated training or game playing comprised of instructive or ideal images and/or adoptable, controllable images. Such images provide the means by which the user can come to understand what to do using his/her cognitive and visualization skills. The use of such skills typically precedes the use of motor or motion skills.
In one embodiment, as the program executes, an instructive or ideal image displays the preferred style, technique, posture, procedure, skills, drills, positions, maneuvers, tactics, strategies or plays of any activity that calls for using cognitive and motor functions. The user""s cognitive functions are developed and/or improved by viewing the procedural methods used by an instructive or ideal image, shown on a portion of the screen. As the program further executes, the user""s level of comprehension improves by: (1) receiving information and cues from visual, audio, textual and tactile transmissions, (2) visualizing the actions of the instructive or ideal image, (3) making cognitive choices and decisions as to what manipulations should be made, and then (4) manipulating a user controllable, adopted (by the user) image on another portion of the screen so as to cause the adopted image to simulate or approximate the preferred style, technique, posture, procedures, skills, drills, positions, maneuvers, tactics, strategies or play of any activity represented by the instructive or ideal image.
Alternatively, using the method and apparatus of the present invention, the user learns or is entertained by manipulating the controllable, adopted image(s) on a full or partial screen in competition against one or more instructive or ideal images or against other controllable images.
The present invention can use, for either the instructive or ideal image, or for the adopted, controllable image, or for both, images from live video taping, or animated or computer generated images or live, or robots real time images. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the instructive image(s) can teach at any level of expertise from first time beginners to professional experts. Feedback can be provided to all uses.
One embodiment pertains to a method of instruction in ice and roller hockey. More particularly, the embodiment pertains to a tutorial and interactive method for self and directed instruction and simulated training and play in a sport (or other activity) such as ice or roller hockey including, but not limited to, the principles of skating, stickhandling, shooting, checking, offensive and defensive play, positional and situational play, tactical and strategic plays and maneuvers.
The present invention includes observing an instructive (or ideal) way of doing something, receiving information and visual, audio, textual and tactile cues, visualizing what needs to be done and manipulating the adopted image to make sequential, positional changes pursuant to reviewing objectives and options and making choices in a dynamic decision process. This is a cognitive and to some extent a motor process that prepares the individual to engage in an activity coupling cognitive with motor skills. The present invention provides a simulated environment within which to prepare. The present invention combines perceptual experience and cognition with physical sensation and uses cues to facilitate user trial, error and improvement. The present invention facilitates the acquisition of accelerated albeit simulated experience.
By virtue of the facility available to users of the present invention, simulated training can be accomplished as well as simulated drill and maneuvers in taking up proper positions, reacting to situational play and executing tactics and strategies. Further, without a requirement for actual imitative movement of an instructive figure or its movement and without the requirement to use actual tools, implements or equipment, users of the present invention can engage in simulated repetition and/or competition geared to either learning or entertainment and can do so within the economy of space used for a computer monitor and keyboard or other economical, including virtual reality, input devices.
The present invention provides facilities for users to engage in simulated training, repetition and entertainment in activities that couple cognitive and motor skills. Such facilities, using skating as an example, include a range of functions such as simply understanding proper positioning for xe2x80x9cpushing offxe2x80x9d (for example, starting from a stationary standing position while on ice) to sophisticated, preferred, proactive play and preferred reactive play in response to numerous and varied competitive situations. The present invention, by virtue of its capacity to simultaneously present pre-programmed images following a predetermined system of activities and/or images that are controllable adopted by the user also provides for engaging entertainment and amusement.
Using any form of communication of information, including but not limited to floppy disks, CD-ROM disks, a local network, the Internet or wireless communication, users can compete against single opponents, against prior stored images of any individuals (or animations), including themselves or robots and against a full or partial opposing team, group or force. The elements of use of the present invention, including but not limited to viewing preferred or opposing activity, visualizing what the user should do in response to the activity viewed, including identifying options and making choices and decisions and interacting with the present invention through adoptable, controllable images open up a host of imaginative applications and uses for teachers, coaches, trainers, game players and the general public.
An alternative embodiment of the present invention is to have dynamic interaction among all images on the screen so that users may adopt and control all images in a learning, competitive or entertainment oriented environment.
The present invention is particularly well-suited to providing to the user accelerated experience through simulation. The processes of observation, orientation, and judgment are facilitated by the present method and apparatus.
The present invention is not limited to visual sensors but can incorporate others including audio etc. as needed. The use of auditory, visual and other cues decreases distractions and improves comprehension. Using the present invention as a relatively economical training simulator, implementation of visualization in a simulated environment is facilitated. Utilizing pre-programmed, automated and/or user controllable images, the users"" awareness of spatial relationships among and between images, objects and locations is enhanced. Dynamic interaction between the images adopted by users, acting in concert as teammates against opposing images as well as dynamic communication and coordination by and between users, whether athletes or not, and other users is also enhanced.
There are multiple opportunities to change the position of an individual or one""s entire team, i.e. a group of adopted, controllable images in response to opposing positioning or formations. This can be accomplished using touch sensitive screens or other input devices and will lead to sharpened pre-training in individual and/or team technique. The present invention is applicable to activities other than sports and pastimes.